This post is asking for your suggestions on the type of questions you think Wagner and/or Walken should be asked by the media.
There were things edited from Goodbye Natalie I wish had remained: but there was only so much space allotted. I recall after speaking with Frank Salerno, that Dr. Lyndon Taylor gave me a list of questions he would like to ask the authorities. We talked about questions Wagner and Walken should be asked by the media. We discussed the benefits of Lyn meeting in person with Salerno, and Lyn e-mailed me an agenda he would use that included explaining his background and participation, as well as some questions for the former detective(s) on the Wood case that would show them their neglect and give them an opportunity to explain:
QUESTIONS FOR SHERIFF:
In your investigations did you or your staff . . .
Calculate Natalie’s weight in sea water?
Calculate the buoyancy of the red down jacket?
Examine the abrasion on her face for particles?
Question Wagner about the delay in reporting her absence?
Look for signs of a fight on the boat?
Examine the round bruises on her body as possible points of contact for gripping her?
Examine the surviving men's bodies for corresponding bruises?
Question other boaters in the harbor at the time?
Question Dennis at length?
Question Wagner at length?
Question Walken at length?
Question the delay in seeking professional help?
Establish a timeframe of events leading to Natalie’s demise?
Although we KNEW the answers to all of Lyn's questions were "No" -- it would give the law the opportunity to ask themselves why these standard procedures were not followed.
BUT, it's the media that has failed Natalie, too! What should they be demanding from Wagner? What would YOU want them to ask Wagner in an interview? What would you want to hear from Walken?
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Marti, If I remember correctly, you said that it was Roger Smith who asked Wagner why he waited so long to report Natalie missing. The police never discussed that with Wagner?
ReplyDeleteThere are so many question but the first is.I want to know why he left her to die.
ReplyDeleteI will have to think about the others. Thanks for posting these Question's Marti. Can't wait to see what others write. Pam
Kevin, Roger Smith is the ONLY person who asked that of Wagner. Actually, it was Roger's question but it was Sheriff Knoll (of Avalon) who actaully posed the question to Wagner, in Roger's presence. Roger and Knoll had discussed the negligent delay on their way to the Splendour. It was the FIRST THING they wanted to know from Wagner.
ReplyDeleteRoger is the ONLY person who knows this information firsthand, and he should be asked about it, but when he tried to let the detectives know, they ignored him, and still do, to this day. Knoll has since died, ironically he drowned off Catalina Island, too...in a diving procedure. But Roger heard Wagner's reply that he thought Natalie was off screwing around somewhere, so that's why he didn't call. Is THAT something a concerned husband -- the HUSBAND of NATALIE WOOD would say? It's virtually incomprehensible, but Roger knows it was Wagner's
answer. The detectives never asked Wagner about the delay. They believed Wagner called for help upon noticing Natalie was missing because that's what negligent Pam Eaker wrote in HER report! It was NEVER investigated, no time line was ever officially established. Wagner was provided a helicopter to fly home to grieve. About six weeks later he was seeing Jill St. John and they went on their first date eight weeks after Natalie died. I guess that's what a grieving husband does who could say he didn't try to save his wife because she was off screwing around. Natalie was fighting for her life in the open, cold sea. Wagner's actions that night are inhuman.
Did Natalie even have a habit of taking the dinghy and "going to look at the stars?" I don't believe she did. I don't believe she would have gotten into the dinghy alone. She was too afraid of the ocean. And if the dinghy needed retying, she would have asked Dennis to do it. And why would she be walking on a wet deck in socks? Nothing about her death says "accident."
ReplyDeleteNothing says "accident" and that's a fact! Natalie never took the dinghy out alone. Wagner would like us to believe she did, but fact is, she didn't!
ReplyDeleteWhat's another travesty of justice is the way the law ignores GNGS, as if it's all Dennis's fault this case got away from them. Shame on them! Rasure didn't do his job properly and Salerno didn't check his men!
ReplyDeleteIf I was the detective in charge I would have asked Wagner and Dennis, separately. why there was such a long delay in calling to report Natalie missing from the boat.
ReplyDeleteI would have asked Wagner when he last saw his wife.
I would have asked Wagner why the boat was in such disarray, ie. the broken glass, the very messy stateroom.
I would have asked all 3 men to disrobe and be checked for bruising and scratches.
I would have asked all 3 men to submit to a blood alcohol test.
I would have asked Wagner what emotional state his wife was in the last time he saw her, spoke to her.
I would have asked Wagner and Dennis, separately, if Natalie was in the habit of taking off at night in the dinghy.
I don't think I'd do a good job interrogating Wagner. It'd get too personal for me.
ReplyDeleteAnyone ever seen the barber scene in Mississippi Burning? Me + Gene Hackman's toughness = the biggest man hunt since John Wilkes Booth.
HSP,
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. The man has some strong-arm lawyering on his side, too. The archaic kind, movie-like, almost. Sometimes it all seems surreal to me.
If Wagner looked like Danny Trejo this case would have wrapped in the same amount of time it did back in '81 but with Wagner going to prison 30 years ago. Unfortunately, for Natalie and the rest of us, Wagner has a handsome face, a winning smile and an authoritative voice, all of which confounds the ears and eyes when looking for a killer. He just doesn't look like one. (Google Danny Trejo) He didn't need to put up much of a front for very long, he just "acted like a grieving husband" in front of a cop or two and stayed the hell out of sight for a few days and wallah - he just brushed his hands together and away it all went. I'm sure that in the minds of psychopaths they can rationalize anything the want to and I'm convinced Wagner tells himself he did what he had to do to protect himself. I know the point here was " What to ask of Wagner" I'd like to see what it will take to get him to answer.
ReplyDeleteWagner 'looked' like a grieving husband...but he was far from it.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, finding a new relationship within a year, hardly talking about his wife, who loved him...
The man needs to watch all the Trudy episodes of Monk. THAT is a grieving husband.
He put on the grieving husband act while he was seeing Jill a mere 2 and a half months after Natalie died which happened to be Valentine's Day.
ReplyDelete